Maharashtra Minister Bachchu Kadu allegedly slaps contractor over poor Akola hospital food

Maharashtra Minister Bachchu Kadu on Monday allegedly slapped a contractor who supplies food to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Akola over the poor quality of meals being served to patients at the facility. The alleged incident took place during the Minister's surprise visit to the hospital.

A video purportedly showing Kadu hitting the food contractor has gone viral. During the hospital visit, Bachchu Kadu inspected the meal being provided to patients, including to COVID-19 patients, and was allegedly enraged by the poor quality of the food items. He summoned the food contractor to seek an explanation on the quality of meals, and allegedly slapped him on not getting satisfactory answers.

There have been reports in the local media about poor-quality meals being served to patients at the government-run hospital. Speaking to the media after his visit, Kadu said the district sub-divisional officer has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the quality of meals and non-maintenance of records related to grain stocks and food supplies to the hospital.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally surges

Maharashtra is currently reeling under the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic that has led to an upsurge in infections, forcing the government to impose weekend lockdown and a night curfew in the state. On Tuesday, April 6, Maharashtra recorded 55,469 novel coronavirus cases taking the state's COVID-19 tally to 31,13,354. At present, there are 4,72,283 active cases in the state. With 34,256 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 25,83,331. With Mumbai recording 10,030 cases in the day, it remains a major novel coronavirus hotspot in the state. 

(With Agency inputs)